Observations focused on the problems of an underdeveloped country, Venezuela, with some serendipity about the world (orchids, techs, science, investments, politics) at large. A famous Venezuelan, Juan Pablo Perez Alfonzo, referred to oil as the devil's excrement. For countries, easy wealth appears indeed to be the sure path to failure. Venezuela might be a clear example of that.

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Watch Out For The Rise Of Fascism In Venezuela

February 6, 2013

I have been trying not to write posts when I read some news of something happening in Venezuela and rather try to think about things longer, but I can’t fail to mention the fascist show that Diosdado Cabello presided over in the National Assembly yesterday.

The contents are almost irrelevant. To raise all of that fuzz about Primero Justicia and corruption in that party, only to end up accusing unknown members of even other parties and involving amounts that would not even be sufficient to pay for any of the watches Diosdado wears every day, is simply and absolutely ridiculous.

But what worries me, is the style that is being used. The power of the State media is used to raise issues days in advance, creating a supposed scandal, but giving no details about it. Then, when the moment comes, Diosdado becomes more like a Judge, using illegally obtained phone conversations, checks and papers and, before he is done, he is already issuing a guilty verdict, when nothing has been investigated or demonstrated.

These are corruption cases supposedly involving a few thousand dollar,s on the same day that one of the most serious economic firms in the country denounces that more than US$ 15 billion in fake imports took place in Venezuela in 2012 and on the same session that the Assembly refused to even discuss the Bs. 300 million check found in the hands of a former Iranian Finance Minister (More on both of these tomorrow)

But this seems to be the style of the new rulers of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro and Diosdado Cabello. Both are increasingly fascist and intolerant, making accusations out of thin air and each acting like the top man, both campaigning and speaking aggressively at every turn. They are “united”, but each has taken his own way, holding court, politicking, but neither doing their job, as the country drifts with nobody in charge.

And to me this indicates a level of insecurity that bodes badly for the country. As Chavez’ silence has now extended to 58 days, there is no clear leader, Maduro and Cabello are both jockeying for power, by trying to imitate their former boss (Maduro aggressive, Cabello back in military garb), whom they know will never return to give a speech, let alone to power.

And it is only going to get worse from here. These guys are willing to run over anyone to preserve power. And to do that, they don´t mind buying out or indicting Deputies, so that Chavismo can have the two thirds majority it needs to name the Comptroller, Justices of the Supreme Court and members of the Electoral Board.

This will only get worse, as the two leading figures in Chavismo try to out-fascistize each other. And once their all mighty deity is gone, it will become a free for all, “gangland style”, with others, mostly former military that hail from Tachira and Zulia, getting involved. The all out fight within Chavismo will likely become like April 11th. but in slow motion. Everyone jockeying for position, everyone trying to come out on top and nobody knowing who is friend or foe, except for the tribe that needs to be eliminated: that of the opposition.

The opposition should try to stay out of it, except the attacks will be relentless and increase in their intensity and levels of fascist provocation, like the sorry spectacle at the National Assembly yesterday. But expect jailings, wiretaps, accusations and limitations in the ability of the opposition to set up a viable candidacy.

Things will get much, much worse, before they get any better. So, watch your back and be careful…

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41 Responses to “Watch Out For The Rise Of Fascism In Venezuela”

“Fascism” has a variety of definitions, but the common theme in all of them are the strong charismatic leader, which Venezuela is now lacking. I would posit that Venezuela has had a Fascist government for a long time now, and that Venezuela is just now entering a Post-Fascist period of chaos.

The battle between the two contenders, neither of whom have remotely the credibility of Chavez, could be fierce, Hard to believe that the army won’t intervene, possibily split, with different elements supporting each candidate.
Before all that though, it does seem that it may be the intention of both contenders to clear the way for their battle by decimating the opposition, ensuring that they, the opposition, would be incapable of taking advantage of the split, and fight, within the Chavez movement.

At this point, really not waiting- I would be for a military government takeover-except that I am worried the military is probably representative of the population split on being chavista and opposing Chavez knowing full well how wrong it is to bend down to Castro…
Yet, I would hope some people in the military with brains would restore demcracy and round up the criminals and return law and order everywhere. Looks like the best and quickest way to restore order?

The only thing I disagree with is when your wrote: “once their all mighty deity is gone, it will become a free for all”. I do believe that free for all has already started but is just behind the scenes right now.
I also think that Mr. Chavez is already gone: either dead or in such a poor condition that he will never come back to Venezuela in a conscious state. How these fine men will explain this to his followers is beyond me. I guess they can prop him up in front of the Supreme court, but how do you take photos of that, or how do you explain the fact that he is the “mute President”.

I think this article captures really well what seems to be the current development of Venezuela. In short, I believe things are getting really ugly, yet, it is still hard to know how bad the situation will be in terms of political violence (a civil war luckily still feels somewhat far away). What is clear is that to hope that chavista decency and integrity will slightly protect Venezuela from deteriorating even more is futile. Maduro and Cabello are clearly compensating their lack of support with increased hatred and oppression.

No law or republican principle will protect the countries civility and development, as all are broken with terryfying ease and lack of ethics by the government, whenever necessary. The economic destruction wheel keeps turning faster, and the big question will be how pendejo el pueblo really is. Will they blame the government appointed scapegoats or understand who the real perpetrator is? Judging from the last events, to hope for a massive (70-80% will be needed to challenge the govt) reaction seems far away, as well as any election victory due to power abuse and fraud. Sadly, we might be looking at at least 20 years before a historic tide in favour of National development and growth happens again. So sad on so unnecessary.

if they ousted by opposition the problem ends. but if the chavistas keep fighting for the power they will just multiply, primero solo chavez, with chavez “gone” there are two Cabello and Maduro, if they are gone.. there will be 4 but maybe ten time more lousy (lousier!) if thsoe 4 are gone (as it will happen because they will be so lousy that even their people will not tolerate) they 8 will fight for the cake and so on and on and on until someone with the ball to put everyone in jail or just exterminate them (yes, a military government again!) does something. NADA SE RESOLVERA A BUENAS venezuela is so divided that 50% of the people will rather die before giving it out the MIGAJAS QUE EL CHAVISMO LES PROVEE

The rest of South America has done little constructive so far, to say the least, hoping perhaps that Chavez would make a come-back. If he doesn’t, what happens? I don’t think that Morales, Kirchner or Correa have much empathy for Maduro or Cabello; they may even see them as fakes or gangsters. So the only ally/protector would be Cuba.

Would there be then outside pressure on Venezuela to be democratic? Would Cuba feel emboldened to interfere even more in Venezuelan affairs? Or would Cuba also be pressured to respect Venezuela’s sovereignty and shape up at home?

Noel,
Cuba has taken the President of Venezuela hostage and stopped all communication. Cuba wanted to takeover Venezuela in the 1960’s and now they got their wish. Cuba does not respect its own citizens. Why would you expect Cuba to respect anything Venezuelan?

Ronaldo, this is not what I meant. I wondered whether with Chavez out of the picture, his traditional allies (Kirchner, Correa, Morales) may treat his would be successors differently, i.e. be less tolerant of blatant disregards to democracy. And if they were in such a mood, that would also pressure Cuba to back off.

George Bush in a 2008 Middle East speech-
“On one side are those who defend the ideals of justice and dignity with the power of reason and truth. On the other side are those who pursue a narrow vision of cruelty and control by encouraging murder, inciting fear, and spreading lies. Leaders who are accountable to their people will not pursue endless confrontation and bloodshed. ”

Words that apply to Venezuela today. Chavistas policies center on inciting fear and spreading lies. It is time for a regime change.

:Alejandro… sorry but the print is getting to small so I am answering you here 🙂

None of the Politicians have placed fault with the people. And yes your right, the new Politicians are easy targets right now. Why? No TSJ or viable enforcers of the Law that they can go to. We know this, it is going to be a hard 6 months and a few may end up like Lopez.
But to get back to the voting…
Government is for Policy, Laws, overseeing. All of this is long term solution making. Change does not happen overnight, at best 1 year before improvements can be seen, touched, perceived. The shear fact that I can not walk into ANY market and buy what I want to eat when I want to eat it, then, when I finally get home I can not cook it when I want to cook it because the power just went off.. who knows for how long, guess its another sandwich tonight..well lets just get in the car and drive over to the next sector the lights maybe on there and we will have pizza, oh, cant do that, need brakes on the car will take a week to get them. We take a taxi.. oh, the pizza place is closed, they have lights.. but no flour so..No pizza.
Do I really need a muse, Politician to inspire me to vote so I can stop living like this? or am I just denying MY responsibility and pushing it along for the next guy to fix it for me.
Everyone claims they are to busy taking care of life and just trying to survive to worry about Politics. Well, 3 hrs just to try and get something for dinner on the table. If I worry about the politics at voting time my life will get better. ANYthing is better than PSu and I dont need a politician to tell me that.

Not everyone is ODE007 unfortunately… I sympathise 100% with your point but we need to take the lessons on board, assume historical responsibility and even ownership of it and convey a message with profound understanding of the reality. And that’s the gist of my argument the MUD is a coalition, a diverse one that should symbolize reform and emergence and manage to convey a message that takes this into account with conviction and forward looking.

Anything new has to be beyond the discussion if the 4th republic was better than the 5th, or a rivalry between 23 de enero or 4 de febrero, that only benefits a few and especially the regime and those that are trying to stay relevant and as a result harming any prospects. Thus we are vulnerable and weak, an easy target for a formidable regime and without a long term strategy that will take advantage of the opportunities that will come.

I definitively agree that things will get much worst before they begin to improve.

However, I think this is the time for the opposition to start showing proof of ALL the screw up/corruption/stealing that these idiots have been doing for the last 14 years and screaming it from the roof tops. Send documents to all the international press, show pictures of all the expensive stuff these guys wear, show deeds to million dollar houses/malls boats etc. If anything other countries (read the USA because thats where most of these bastards seem to go) will begin to confiscate properties obtained with tainted money like they did for people involved in the maletagate debacle.

This I think might make all members of the inner circle start to make things even more into a free for all and hopefully they will take each other out. Especially if the mismanagement continues at this pace, because if it does there wont be a papa PDVSA to give money to anyone!

“I definitively agree that things will get much worst before they begin to improve.”

Things will get much worse, and then they will stay that way for a long looooong time.

“However, I think this is the time for the opposition to start showing proof of ALL the screw up/corruption/stealing that these idiots have been doing for the last 14 years and screaming it from the roof tops.”

Not enough people will listen, at least more than 8 million venezuelans will not.

“Send documents to all the international press, show pictures of all the expensive stuff these guys wear, show deeds to million dollar houses/malls boats etc.”

Count on the international left to come out and defend “these guys”, no matter how strong the evidence against them you might provide.

“If anything other countries (read the USA because thats where most of these bastards seem to go) will begin to confiscate properties obtained with tainted money like they did for people involved in the maletagate debacle.”

You think other countries (governments) don’t know what’s going on here? They do, they don’t care, and won’t care as long as they keep getting the oil.

“This I think might make all members of the inner circle start to make things even more into a free for all and hopefully they will take each other out.”

I’ve seen the opposition presenting documents to the government that supposedly implicates officials of wrong doing. However, I have never seen any of those documents. So I agree with you that prove of corruption by government officials should be shown to the public. All 8 millions may not belive it, but a portion of them will, and that we need.

I meant show them outside Venezuela. I know in Venezuela absolutely nothing will be done, but outside things could be different. Probably not 100% of the time things will be done, but even if a smaller percentage of the time something is it will start to make things uncomfortable for these characters. For example…I forget his name, Alejandro maybe?…the guy that was indicted in Miami for the whole suitcase debacle had his house confiscated.

We need to keep the pressure on for more things like that to happen so that hopefully we can instigate more infighting between the chavistas and hopefully speed up their downfall!

I’m not of this culture but am learning rapidly how the average Venezuelan is wired. From my personal perspective, and this is only my opinion, the average Chavista (and most other Venezuelans) expect, and accept, that government officials are going to cheat, rob, and plunder. It appears that as long as they (the chavistas) feel that they’re getting their fair share, then everything’s normal.

Why fascist? Why not communist? Are they the same? In our case, I prefer communism, however, let’s take more general and more rational as K Popper, one of the greatest Austrian thinkers, In his The Open Society and Its Enemies, as well as in The Poverty of Historicism, Popper developed a strong critique of historicism -fascism or/and communism, where fascism and communism are the same thing. The Venezuelan cultural socialistic left, and I thing lots of people belong to it, but without knowing it, prefers, fascism. Chavists successfully used it, what I do not understand why we do not use “communist”. I know out there lots of people used to be communist/marxist when young, and as Churchill said, he sometimes did not understand why is so difficult to exorcise it at maturity age.

The use of the term “fascist” is more effective, as Chavez supporters will brush off the accusation of communism. They have much more difficulty with the accusation of fascism, and, because there is plenty of truth to it, it has teeth. And when supporters bring support for Cuba into the discussion, I hark back to the Hitler-Stalin Pact.

Chavez has always been brain dead. His first term in power was dedicated to a formal education, his, at the Country’s expense. Read a book and implement. What a way to run a business let alone a Country.

It is now 60 days since anything was heard from the vain & irresponsible Pres.
If he is not yet dead then he is making very good use of the coca leaves because I am sure he is in a lot of pain. ( I will refrain from any further personal comments with respect to his PAIN)

your Last 2 paragraphs can not be EMPHASIZED enough Miguel. I know that many eyes are watching this develop…my fear is another Syria. China Russia have veto votes on security council … I hope Diego Salicetti is where he can do the most good right now.

I strongly believe that the coalition, the MUD, should take advantage of this time and renew itself in response to recent events, as things get worse and the regime plays with a narrowing margin of error due to incompetence the crisis will be the real opportunity. Thus any passivity could be seen as irresponsible and blocking the necessary reforms that the opposition establishment has to go through in order to gain credibility. The MUD is becoming a haven for politicians that have no electoral capital and this reduces its chances as the democratic alternative. Its ironic that those that do go to the electoral battle are left in obscurity. After the debacle of the elections nothing has changed and nobody is responsible.

I know who is responsible… The ones that were to busy on the Beach to go VOTE!… if participation is Massive enough they cant screw around with the numbers. You dont vote, they can turn your non vote into a vote for them. The only peaceful weapon is the Vote. MASSIVE like 2007. and a few flat tires on a lot of buses would not hurt either.

Poor turn-out is a failure of leadership as simple as that. any politician or leader that blames lack of enthusiasm or the media, or the weather is a mediocre politician, there are no excuses. If people don’t go out and vote it’s reasonable to think that the leadership or what is on offer doesn’t win hearts and minds.

If the MUD wants to remain a viable coalition and as the democratic alternative it has to renew itself, learn from it mistakes and come up with a more enthusiastic and energetic discourse which is need it.

Nobody, only a fool would, can deny the fact that via Chavez the electorate at one point 80% of it got rid of something. Thus the MUD has to respond to it, it’s the appropriate historic response, anything else is kicking the can and extending the life of something that is not electoral, it’s nostalgic. And if there’s something we should all be proud of is that there’s talent out there willing to serve. By the way and this new generation of politicians is becoming easy targets and the coalition will fail.

If things continue to decline economically, as they must, how can that be good for anyone? How can there be a winner? In the end, despiration and utter frustration must force people to abandon ideological blindness and scapegoating.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you
didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away
from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream.
Discover.”